Nine Unassisted: NFL injuries, QB battles, endless mocking

OK, let's walk through the 9U process again for those who aren't familiar with the flow. Step One: We'll post nine links to content elsewhere. Nine inoffensive links, typically to news or features with fantasy relevance. This being a fantasy blog. Step Two: You'll write "This article was useless!" in comments. Also acceptable: "This column was useless!" Everyone has a part to play. Today, we're all-football...

• Even when we thought he was healthy, Antonio Bryant(notes) was a tricky player for fantasy purposes. He's coming off a career-year and the Tampa Bay quarterback situation is a small disaster. We've now learned that Bryant will need arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to "clean up a little chunk of meniscus," according to his coach. And so ends his preseason. For me, he's the No. 22 WR and holding. Please discuss. [The Tampa Tribune]

•Steve Smith's shoulder injury will get all the attention, but '08 fantasy MVP DeAngelo Williams(notes) has a "tweaked" left toe, and it's caused him to miss multiple practices. No one has yet indicated that the issue is particularly serious, but of course there's no incentive for teams to be honest about player injuries. There's been a tweaking. That's all we know. [Inside the Panthers]

• Much is different about the '09 Bills and the no-huddle is a topic of serious interest. You'll find an excellent Hall of Fame Game breakdown over at SB Nation. Here's a review of sleeper/rookie TE Shawn Nelson(notes): "His blocking was generally poor, and he was largely invisible on the stat sheet, but I spent most of the second half watching him run routes. He's deceptively fast. ... I'd like to see more of him in the red zone, and a little less of Josh Reed(notes). He's a matchup nightmare in that area for linebackers." [Buffalo Rumblings]

• We don't know who's going to start at quarterback for the Vikings in their preseason opener on Friday, but rest assured, it won't mean much. "Coach Brad Childress said whoever doesn't start will open the Aug. 21 game against Kansas City." [Star Tribune]

•Bobby Wade(notes) recently declared that the QB competition was over, however: "You know the timing’s really important for every single one of our receivers, the timing with Tarvaris, and Sage for that matter but especially Tarvaris knowing he’ll be pretty much the named starter going into the season..." Make of that what you will. Wade has already taken it back. [The Viking Age]

• We're participating in a slow-pick draft -- an i n c r e d i b l y slow-pick draft -- sponsored by Bruno Boys, and we're sick about the fact that we potentially handed a DeAngelo-Gore combo to Smitty at the turn. Link is for draft lurkers only. [My Fantasy League]

• Geoff Stein joins with those who've declared that you can wait all day for a tight end in '09. Deep position, loads of talent in the middle tiers. [Mock Draft Central]

• No, we didn't grab all the injuries here -- only nine bullets, those are the rules. Check out Monday Morning Rehab if you're ambulance chasing. Full of useful notes. [The Hazean]